The present invention relates to a method for correcting as a function of climate and/or temperature the altitude reading on an altitude measuring device, and to an altimeter operating in accordance with the functional principle of the method, and to a method for measuring altitude by using the method according to the invention.
The development of electronic altimeters having silicon-based pressure sensors permits even inexperienced mountain walkers to carry along an altimeter such as, for example, the altimeter from Victorinox, CH-6438 Ibach.
Altimeters calculate the appropriate altitude on the basis of atmospheric pressure. In order to adapt to the diurnal air pressure fluctuations, these units therefore have to be recalibrated in each case before use. To achieve acceptable functioning, it is necessary for the current altitude such as, for example, at home, at the foot of a hill/mountain, at the start of a ramble, etc. to be input anew daily.
This input can also be accomplished by an unpracticed user. The correction of the temperature profile against altitude is a difficult one. Many different possibilities for correcting the temperature profile are proposed by those marketing such altimeters, for example including Thommen, CH-4437 Waltenburg, and in the book entitled “Wetterkunde für Wanderer und Bergsteiger” [“Meteorology for Ramblers and Mountaineers”] by Peter Albisser, published by SAC Verlag, 3000 Bern, edition 2001.
The proposed methods are generally relatively complicated and also do not always lead to good results, because the air can be layered in a complex fashion.